U.S. Pat. No. 6,722,681 B1 granted to Applicant on Apr. 20, 2004 describes a tray for attachment to a wheelchair and is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. There are thousands of conventional and motorized wheelchairs in service and each of the people who are confined to a wheelchair needs the convenience of having a tray at their disposal. Since a wheel chair is mobile, the wheel chair and its occupant travel from place to place. If the tray is not attached to the chair, the tray may be left in a location to which the occupant and/or caregiver must return in order to obtain and utilize the tray.
Many types of trays which are removable from the armrest of a wheelchair are in use; however, they have their limitations in that they must be removed from the wheelchair prior to the time that the occupant can be removed from the wheelchair. There is accordingly a need for a wheelchair having a storable tray thereon wherein the tray can be stored at the side of the chair on a continuous basis without affecting the operation of the wheelchair and which when needed can be returned to its utilization position without affecting the operation of the wheelchair. The tray assembly of U.S. Pat. No. 6,722,681 B1 met this need by providing a tray which is movable between a utilization position and a storage position while still allowing an occupant of the chair assembly to use the chair assembly in its fullest capacity.
In the present invention, the tray assembly as represented by U.S. Pat. No. 6,722,681 B1 has been further improved to provide a more practical lateral and vertical support to the tray in the utilization position and other mechanisms for attaching the tray to a manual or motorized device or chair having armrests. The tray vertical support mechanism may be improved for most basic motorized or conventional wheelchairs, whether of the standard or desk type arm design or whether the chair with arms is stationary or whether the device with arms is a platform used and/or occupied by the user. The support for the portion of the tray farthest from the occupant is lacking in the design described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,722,681 B1. The design may be improved by having the support for the portion of the tray farthest from the occupant be retractable instead of stationary as was described in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,722,681 B1. Such configuration overcomes the problem of support members protruding into the area used by the occupant in getting in and out of the wheelchair. Additionally the lateral support for the tray covered under U.S. Pat. No. 6,722,681 B1 is provided in an alternative configuration in which the tray arm is attached opposite the pivot arm to the rear of the chair preventing the tray from rotating and/or moving forward. That tray design may be used as a restraint if required by doctor's orders, however it may be perceived as a restraint when not needed and therefore the tray may not be utilized.
Therefore, a more practical design is presented by the present invention in order to provide a more practical vertical support and adequate lateral support needed by the majority of users.